19th century The idea of railway guns was first suggested in Russia in 1847 by Gustav Kori (proposal), followed by Ye. Repin (project, 1855), Pyotr Lebedev (who outlined the theoretical foundations of the railway artillery in
Primeneniye Zheleznykh Dorog k Zashite Materika, 1857) and P. Fomin (developed a project of a large-caliber cannon, 1860).
American Civil War ) The first railway gun used in combat was a banded 32-pounder
Brooke naval rifle mounted on a flat car and shielded by a sloping casemate of railroad iron. On 29 June 1862,
Robert E. Lee had the gun pushed by a locomotive over the Richmond and York River line (later part of the
Southern Railway) and used at the
Battle of Savage's Station to interfere with General
George McClellan's plans for
siege operations against Richmond during the
Union advance up the peninsula. Photographic evidence exists of at least one Union
13-inch siege mortar mounted on a rail car during the
Siege of Petersburg. It was nicknamed the
Dictator or the
Petersburg Express. When it was first fired, the
recoil destroyed the
flatcar on which it was mounted. A flatcar strengthened by additional beams covered by iron plate was able to resist recoil damage from a full charge. The
Dictator was then fired from a section of the
Petersburg and
City Point Railroad where moving the strengthened flatcar along a curve in the track trained the gun on different targets along the
Confederate lines. The
Dictator silenced the Confederate guns on Chesterfield Heights to prevent them from enfilading the right end of the Union line. Another photo exists of a gun mounted on an armoured rail car with the caption of "Railway battery used in siege of Petersburg" although no textual evidence survives in support of the caption, which makes the claim that it is a photo of the Confederate gun from 1862 dubious.
France France also used improvised railway guns during the
Siege of Paris (1870–1871). In France, Lt. Col Peigné is often credited with designing the first railway gun in 1883. Commandant Mougin is credited with putting guns on rail cars in 1870. The French arms maker
Schneider offered a number of models in the late 1880s and produced a gun intended for coastal defense, selling some to the Danish government in the 1890s. They also designed a model the
Obusier de 200 "Pérou" sur affût-truck TAZ Schneider for
Peru in 1910, but they were never delivered.
United Kingdom The United Kingdom mounted a few guns on railway cars which saw action during the
Siege and
Relief of Ladysmith during the
Second Boer War. A
9.2 inch gun was taken from the
Cape Town coast defences and mounted on a rail car to support the British assault on Boer defenses at
Belfast, north-east of
Johannesburg, but the battle ended before it could get into action.
World War I The outbreak of the
First World War caught the French with a shortage of heavy
field artillery. In compensation, large numbers of large static coastal defense guns and naval guns were moved to the front, but these were typically unsuitable for field use and required some kind of mounting. The railway gun provided the obvious solution. By 1916, both sides were deploying numerous types of railway guns.
France During the First World War France produced more railway guns in more calibers and with different mountings than everyone else combined. The largest French gun produce by Schneider of France the
Obusier de 520 modèle 1916, a 20-inch (520 mm) railway "Fort Buster" to do what the German 16.53-inch
Big Bertha had done at the outbreak of World War I and reduce the German forts in the final line of German defenses. One was destroyed in trials and the other did not complete firing trials prior to the signing of the Armistice. The gun remained in storage and was captured by the Germans during World War II. It later formed part of the German artillery complement during the
Siege of Leningrad. The gun was disabled by a premature detonation and later abandoned.
Germany •
15 cm SK "Nathan" •
17 cm SK L/40 i.R.L. auf Eisenbahnwagen •
21 cm SK "Peter Adalbert" •
24 cm SK L/30 "Theodor Otto" •
24 cm SK L/40 "Theodor Karl" •
28 cm K L/40 "Kurfürst" •
28 cm SK L/40 "Bruno" •
38 cm SK L/45 gun •
Amiens Gun •
Paris Gun United States Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered five
14"/50 caliber railway guns on trains for the
United States Navy during April and May 1918. Each 14"/50 gun mounted on a , rail carriage with four 6-wheel bogies was under the command of a United States Navy lieutenant with a standard U.S. Army
2-8-0 locomotive, a 10-ton crane car, two armored ammunition cars carrying 25 shells each, two cars carrying the recoil pit foundation materials, two fuel and workshop cars, three
berthing cars, a kitchen car, a
commissary car, and a medical
dispensary car. A sixth locomotive pulled a
headquarters car for
Rear Admiral Charles Peshall Plunkett, with a machine-shop car, a spare parts car, a berthing car, a kitchen car, a commissary car, and a medical dispensary car. After delivery by ship, these trains were assembled in St. Nazaire in August and fired a total of 782 shells during 25 days on the Western Front at ranges between . Each projectile weighed and was fired at {{convert|2800 Baldwin constructed six similar gun carriages and two of an improved Mk II type After the
American entry into World War I on 6 April 1917, the
U.S. Army recognized the need to adopt railway artillery for use on the Western Front. No US railway guns existed at that time. Due to low production and shipping priorities, the Army's railway gun contribution on the Western Front consisted of four
U.S. Coast Artillery regiments armed with French-made weapons. Three additional railway gun regiments were in France, but did not complete training prior to the Armistice, and they did not see action. Other Coast Artillery units also operated various types of French-, British-, and American-made heavy artillery. The Army also converted some of the numerous
coast artillery weapons to railway mounts. A total of 96
8-inch guns (including some from Navy spares), 129 10-inch guns, 45
12-inch guns, and 150
12-inch mortars could be spared from fixed coast defense batteries or spare stocks. Twelve
7-inch ex-Navy guns and six 12-inch guns being built for Chile were also available. None of these weapons were shipped to France except three 8-inch guns, as few of any type were completed before the Armistice. Forty-seven 8-inch railway guns were ordered, with 18 completed by the Armistice and a total of 37 (or 47, references vary) completed before the contract was canceled. Eight 10-inch railway mounts of 54 ordered were completed by the Armistice, and twelve 12-inch railway mounts were completed by 1 April 1919; the 12-inch contract was cancelled at that point. At least some of the 10-inch gun barrels were shipped to France and mounted on French-made carriages, but sources do not indicate any use of them in combat. Three railway mountings for the Chilean 12-inch guns were ready for shipment by the Armistice, and the remaining three barrels were kept as spares. A total of twenty-two 10-inch guns were eventually mounted. Ninety-one 12-inch railway mortars were ordered, with 45 complete by 7 April 1919 and the remainder eventually completed. The 7-inch and 8-inch guns and 12-inch mortars used a common carriage, with a depressed center and two 4-wheel or 6-wheel bogies. The bogies were interchangeable for standard-gauge or (with 12-wheel bogies) 60-cm (23.6-inch) gauge track. Outriggers and a rotating mount allowed all-around fire. This allowed the weapons to be used in coast defense against moving targets. The 8-inch guns and 12-inch mortars were kept on railway mountings after the war, while almost all of the 7-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch guns were returned to the coastal forts. With 47 available, plus an additional 24
ex-Navy Mark VI guns on railway mounts by 1942, the 8-inch guns were the most-commonly-deployed American railway gun through World War II. About 12 of these were used for the defense of
Oahu,
Hawaii. Others were stationed for the coastal defense of
Manila (eventually dismounted from the railway carriage at
Corregidor), Although numerous 12-inch railway mortars were available, few were deployed. In 1930 the US Army tested them at
Fort Hancock, New Jersey, and
Fort Miles,
Delaware. During World War II, four railway mortars were among the temporary harbor defenses of
Grays Harbor,
Washington state, and emplacements for an additional four at
Cape George, Washington, were constructed, but never armed. Of the more than 250 railway guns built in the United States from 1916 to 1942, the five navy 14"/50 guns that were sent to France during World War I and possibly two 8-inch guns in the Philippines were the only ones ever to be used in combat.
World War II World War II saw the final use of the railway gun. This included the massive
Schwerer Gustav gun, the largest artillery piece to be used in combat, deployed by
Nazi Germany. After the
Fall of France Germany added 58 captured French guns to its inventory while Italy was given 19 French guns with many of these being captured by the Germans after the
Italian capitulation. The
Wehrmacht deployed three 40.6-cm (16-inch) guns. The
British Army deployed three
13.5-inch (34.3-cm) railway guns on the
East Kent Light Railway, locating them around Lydden and Shepherdswell. These were codenamed the "Gladiator", the "Sceneshifter", and the "Peacemaker".
9.2-inch Mark 13 guns were located near
Canterbury and
Hythe, Kent; and
12-inch howitzers, Mk 3 and 5, located around Guston, north of Dover on the Southern Railway line to Deal and Ramsgate. The 18-inch howitzer "
Boche Buster" was sited on the
Elham Valley Railway, between Bridge, Kent, and Lyminge, and was intended for coastal defense against invasion. It was not capable of cross-channel firing, having a maximum range of only about 20 km (12 miles). The IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) employed one railway gun, the
Type 90 240 mm railway gun, which served as a coastal battery in the Tokyo bay, and was then stationed in Manchukuo, in the area of
Heilongjiang. It was destroyed by the retreating
Kwantung Army when the
Soviets invaded Manchuria in late 1945. == Surviving railway guns ==